Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- FMC Technologies Inc., the largest
U.S. provider of subsea equipment to the oil and natural-gas
industry, agreed to buy Pure Energy Services Ltd. for about
C$282 million ($285 million) in cash to expand its hydraulic-fracturing services.

The C$11-a-share offer represents a 40 percent premium to
Calgary-based Pure Energy’s closing price on Aug. 17, according
to data compiled by Bloomberg. The shares climbed 40 percent to
C$10.97 at the close in Toronto, the biggest gain in more than
six years. FMC, based in Houston, fell 1.9 percent to $47.02 in
New York.

Pure Energy provides drilling assistance to companies that
use fracking to extract oil and gas from shale and other dense
rock formations. FMC wants to expand its “shale-related
businesses” and add to services provided by its surface-technologies segment, the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer John Gremp said in a statement today.

FMC’s acquisition of a “land-focused company” is likely
to cause investors and analysts to “question the rationale for
the move,” Brian Uhlmer, a Houston-based analyst at Global
Hunter Securities LLC, wrote today in a note to investors. “We
are taking a cautious stance,” he wrote. Uhlmer rates the
shares neutral, the equivalent to hold, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg.

Global Fracking

The global fracking-services market climbed 63 percent to
$31 billion last year compared to 12 months earlier, according
to a January report from industry consultant Spears &
Associates. The U.S. and Canada are the world’s largest region
for the work, with $27 billion in revenue last year, according
to the report.

The transaction is expected to close in October, according
to the statement.